Clive Palmer Quotes

One person’s persistence is another person’s pig-headedness.
Clive Palmer

[On the planned Titanic II] Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it.
Clive Palmer

[In 2012 on building the Titanic II] I don’t want to die wondering. I’ve always wondered can we build another Titanic? When you look at the people who have tried to do it they either haven’t had the money or they haven’t had a shipyard involved. We are building four ships in China now for our Nickel business. We are re-establishing a marine business for Australia. The Chinese shipyards control about seventy percent of the worlds construction market for container ships and bulk carriers. But only two percent of the cruise market. And they’re very, very keen to do it. They’ve got the best propulsion, the best technology, so we’re going to do it.
Clive Palmer

My motto is to do your best and put the fundamentals in place and everything else will follow.
Clive Palmer

It’s not my fault that I’ve unfortunately got so much money.
Clive Palmer

I've failed more than anyone else has in the world, but I've kept on going…
Clive Palmer

We've got a lot of opportunities, there's a lot of things I can see, so the question is why shouldn't I do it? Why shouldn't I be part of things? The alternative is to go and play bowls or day and go to a nursing home and sit in the toilet, sit in the corner and dribble…
Clive Palmer

[In 1972 on covering the ALP’s national convention at Wrest Point Casino in Hobart for the student newspaper] I certainly remember the bikini girls.
Clive Palmer

[On chasing a job in real estate on the Gold Coast] I rang a few real estate firms and they told me at 21 I was too young. So I rang another place and told them who I was and when they asked how old I was I told them I was 31 and I got the job.
Clive Palmer

[On exiting his ‘retirement’ at age 29] After two years of doing nothing it was such a blessing to be able to work and in 1986 I went back into business, setting up a company and buying iron ore deposits and a chemical company, which traded oil.
Clive Palmer

Change is what keeps people thinking. Change is so important to the way people develop.
Clive Palmer

If you put an emphasis on money, people know how they can control you.
Clive Palmer

We don't become happy by complaining. We don't become happy by being negative.
Clive Palmer

I started out sleeping on the floor, having no money, relying on charity of friends and realising what it was like to be a human being in this country and living a very interesting time when I did that and my life has been full of rich experiences and that's what really provides me with sustainability.
Clive Palmer

You know, the old Chinese symbol for danger is opportunity…
Clive Palmer

I realised that in a lot of failures there's a lot of opportunity…
Clive Palmer

I believe we should be creating a bigger pie for all of us to share.
Clive Palmer

It doesn’t really matter if it's $10 billion or $1 billion. There's no difference in lifestyle; you only get to sleep in one bed.
Clive Palmer

Unlike coal seam gas, a mine is not something that’s going to destroy hundreds of acres of land… I don’t think we have anything to worry about coal mining itself, because a mine only takes over a defined area where the pit will be.
Clive Palmer

[On wanting to build the Titanic II to sail from London to New York] It is going to be designed so it won’t sink.
Clive Palmer

[On plans to build the Titanic II] It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems.
Clive Palmer

It is going to be designed so it won’t sink. But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen.
Clive Palmer

[In 2010 on the deal with CPI] This is Australia’s largest single, non-syndicated, finance deal and the interest from China highlights the strength of the project and the benefits for Queensland and Australia in developing a new world-class coal region.
Clive Palmer

It’s not my fault that I’ve unfortunately got so much money. It’s just that we’ve had big projects and we’ve applied ourselves as best we can and they’ve worked. That’s not such a bad thing.
Clive Palmer

[On being ranked in 2008 as Queensland’s richest man] You still have to eat one meal at a time, sleep in the same bed and dress yourself each morning.
Clive Palmer

People ask me when I started out in business, did I expect to earn all this money. The answer is no. I started out, worked hard, did my best and this followed.
Clive Palmer

[On his father setting up the first commercial radio station in the country.] That was a big thing to do in those days… setting up radio stations like that.
Clive Palmer

David worked with the then Prime Minister Billy Lyons when he was in power, advising him on media stuff. He was probably the first of the spin doctors. He also set up train and buslines for transportation. He broke that monopoly that the state railways had. He was quite an amazing guy.
Clive Palmer

[On his family, including his three sister moving to the Gold Coast in 1963] Like salmon swimming upstream.
Clive Palmer

[On school studying at St Vincents Primary School in Surfers Paradise in grade for and then] From there I went to Aquinas College and I left there in Year 8 after one of the Christian brothers threw a bible at a boy during a religion class and knocked him out. The boy was sitting there with his head against the brick wall and this bible soared through the air and literally knocked him unconscious. I thought ‘geez, that’s not a Christian way to behave’ and so I just walked straight out of the classroom and enrolled at Southport High.
Clive Palmer

I got a sporting scholarship to Toowoomba Grammar but I didn’t go. I’d set records in the 100m, 200m and 400m and I played on the wing with the Southport Tigers rugby league club.
Clive Palmer

[On a conversation with a taxi driver about taking risks] The cabbie said he wouldn’t go across the [Australian] mainland because the plane could crash or the boat could sink. I just thought it was an odd way to live. The guy was too scared to spread his wings and broaden his horizons. I thought then and there that I didn’t want to be like that.
Clive Palmer

[On spending a year helping the Salvation Army at Alkira (Indooroopilly)] There was one boy who kept throwing stuff at the family he was being fostered with and the question you need to ask yourself is: Would you ask that guy home for dinner with your wife and kids? And a lot of people wouldn’t, but the Salvos did it all the time. It helps to bring down crime and gives them a second chance. I have a lot of respect and time for the Salvos.
Clive Palmer

I went out into real estate in 1974, and that group and I made quite a bit of money in those days. By the time I was 21, we were managing estates and developments from the $200 million, $100 million category, and we had hundreds of people working for us.
Clive Palmer

By the time I was 27 or 29 or something like that, I probably had assets worth about $40 million, which I thought was enough in life - and certainly it’s more than enough, right? So I thought I’d retire…
Clive Palmer